At The Midnight Hour
by cakelesspixels
Summary: In this Halloween fic, Sonic is forced to come face to face with his deepest fears.


Antoine was happy to be back in Mercia, there was no doubt about it. It may not have been his hometown, but the seaside village had appeared to be amazingly unscathed in spite of Robotnik's takeover. It didn't take very long for the small band of Knothole Freedom Fighters to find out what had happened. The Duc d'Richelieu or, as the others had been referring to him, the Duke, had been greasing the wheels a bit. He had given Robotnik full use of his factory in exchange for the village's safety. That dilemma would have to wait for another day as they had another mission to attend to first.

"I haven't been to Mercia in years," Sonia admitted. "I can barely remember my last visit."

"What an amazing coincidence," Manic said. "I can barely remember my last visit too."

"You've been to Mercia before?"

"No, that's why I can barely remember it."

The grin on Manic's face made it clear he was very proud of his joke. Sonia rolled her eyes; she knew he'd meant it in jest, but it didn't make him any less of a dork.

"It's a pretty nice place though," he added.

Richelieu-sur-Mer was a beautiful city in Northern Mercia that rested on the seaside. The landscape was filled with luscious trees and old fashioned homes. Sonic noted that it was like looking into one of the Mercian history books that Sally had in her cabin. It was pretty, he'd admit, but he wasn't nearly as blown away by it as everyone else seemed to be.

"I don't get why we didn't just send someone else to check up on this guy," Sonic said. "He probably just flaked out on us."

"I don't think so, Sonic," Sonia said. "Jean-Tom has always been one of our most reliable agents in Mercia. He said he was stopping for the night here and that was over two months ago. No one in Mercia has heard from him since."

"Oui," Antoine said. "And the princess is very worried, too."

"You think 'Buttnik got him?" Manic asked.

"We have no idea," Sonia said. "It doesn't seem likely though. From what our sources say, Robotnik's never even set foot in this town. He just sends his tax collectors to the factory to get their payment and they leave. They almost never even bother to patrol the town."

Despite Sonia's response, Sonic was confident that, if the guy hadn't flaked out, he'd been caught by Robotnik. They were just spinning their wheels coming to this town when they needed to focus on infiltrating Robotnik's headquarters to help him. He'd mentioned this to Sally before she sent the small team out to investigate, but she'd always been a stickler for protocol. She wanted to be sure that Robotnik was the reason for his disappearance before staging a rescue mission.

"Perhaps we should be asking the villagers?" Antoine suggested. "They may be knowing something."

"Good idea," Sonia said.

"That'll take forever," Sonic protested.

The group ignored Sonic's protests. Manic did have a concern he couldn't quite shake off. "There's just one problem," he said. "We only have one native speaker in the group and we're probably gonna bump into some people who can't speak English. I only know a couple of phrases and I'm pretty sure the only French that Sonic knows is 'French fries.'"

"Hey!"

"Antoine and I will handle that," Sonia said. "I do happen to be fluent in French."

"Well, la-di-da, aren't you special, Lady Sonia?" Sonic asked. It wasn't meant to be a genuine attack on his half-sister. He would never admit that he felt some jealousy over Sonia's academic intelligence and privileges. Her adoptive mother's social position had afforded her the best schooling that money could buy. Sonia had tried to teach her brothers a few French phrases on the way to Mercia, but Sonic's lack of focus and patience made it impossible for him to concentrate. Manic, on the other hand, had been able to pick up a few of the important phrases; he was careful to know how to ask where the restroom was and how to order food. Antoine had talked at length about Mercian cuisine that Manic had been determined to try one of the dishes Antoine wouldn't shut up about. Sonic was just disappointed that there probably weren't going to be chili dogs on the menu anywhere, especially in such a remote village.

With Manic's concerns dealt with, they were able to get back to searching for Jean-Tom. The first few villagers seemed to be genuinely unfamiliar with the lost Freedom Fighter which wasn't a huge surprise. Jean-Tom had only been passing through and it had been likely that a majority of the city hadn't even crossed paths with him. As the neared the outskirts of the city, however, the reactions differed drastically. The villagers were stiff, uncomfortable and oddly tight-lipped. There was no proof that they knew more than they were letting on, but something was off. The group seemed to be in silent agreement that something was up. After every strange encounter, they would exchange looks with one another; they all sensed that the villagers were holding back.

"What if Robuttnik did get him?" Sonic asked. "And these scuzzbuckets are covering it up to save their own skin?"

"That is a possibility," Sonia admitted.

"They're hiding something," Manic said. "That's for sure."

"I still think we need to be looking for him in Robotropolis," Sonic added. "He might already be roboticized."

"Excusez-moi."

The group turned their heads at the sound of an elderly woman's voice. Standing before them was an older raccoon woman; her black and gray fur was peppered with white hairs while the hair piled on top of her head was silver. She had a bag of groceries in her arms with fresh produce and bread peeking out of the top of the bag.

"I could not help but overhear," the woman said. "You are looking for someone named Jean-Tom?"

"Yes, we are!" Sonia stepped forward with a smile. It had been a relief to find someone who might actually be able to help. "Do you know him?" She held out the last known photograph of the tiger for her to see. She hadn't been sure how common the name Jean-Tom was in Mercia and she hoped the photograph would clear up any possible misunderstandings.

The woman frowned as she nodded. "I met him before," she admitted. "He was one of the many victims."

"Victims?"

"You should leave this town," the old woman said. "You can do nothing for him now."

"But what happened to him?"

The woman pursed her lips together. After glancing over her shoulder, she continued in a hushed tone. "If you must continue with this, I would suggest you see Mademoiselle Mendou."

"Who?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"She has a home on the outskirts of the city," she said. "She comes and goes as she pleases, but she should be there. She comes home for the Fet Gede."

Sonic crossed his arms. "What the heck is Fet Gede?"

"It's the Feast of the Dead," Sonia said. Sonic wasn't surprised that the bookworm was the one to answer his question; she retained almost every factoid she'd ever read over the years. Her photographic memory was a lifesaver most of the time, but it didn't make it any less annoying. "It's a voodoo holiday. It's when they pray to the dead and offer them food, drink and flowers."

"Delightful," Sonic said.

The old woman readjusted the bag in her arms. "Mademoiselle Mendou, La Reine du Vaudou de la Richelieu, may be able to help you. Just go north on this road. It will lead you into the woods and straight to her cabin. Now, please, go."

The woman hurried off, heading inside one of the old homes to slam the door shut. The group was left to process the information that she'd given them.

"The Voodoo Queen of Richelieu?" Sonia said aloud.

"What?"

Sonia turned to Sonic. "That's what she called her. La Reine du Vaudou de la Richelieu means 'the Voodoo Queen of Richelieu.'"

"Great, we get to go see a magic show."

"I am not liking this," Antoine admitted. "We should not be interfering with anything to do with voodoo. It will not be ending well."

"Seriously, Ant, don't tell me you buy into that kind of stuff," Sonic said. "It's just a bunch of hocus pocus make believe."

"I wouldn't go that far, Sonic," Sonia protested. "Voodoo is a very old belief system that plays a big part in the local culture. You can't just write it off like that. If Jean-Tom did get mixed up in something, we'd be better off with a voodoo queen who can explain the customs to us."

"Figures you'd be all over this," he said.

Knowing he was outnumbered, Sonic agreed to seek out Mademoiselle Mendou in spite of his personal opinion on the matter. There had been no major obstacles on the path toward the small cabin that belonged to the Voodoo Queen of Richelieu. Luck had afforded them that much. It was the most he could ask for on a wild goose chase, he thought.

He grumbled under his breath for the majority of the trip. Manic seemed to be the only one who understood where he was coming from, even if he was siding with Sonia on finding the voodoo queen. Sonic wasn't all that surprised by that. Manic and Sonia may not have grown up together, but they were still twins. It only made sense that they would have some kind of twin bond that caused them to regularly gang up on Sonic. Or, at least, that was how Sonic saw it. He was only their half-brother and he assumed that he wouldn't get the same undying loyalty that being a full-blooded sibling would award him. Sally had tried to tell him he was being ridiculous, but the proof of the pudding was in the eating.

"Maybe this voodoo queen could ride her broom into Buttnik's fortress," Manic joked. It had been an attempt at clearing the air; it had grown tense and no one had uttered a word since setting out to find Mademoiselle Mendou.

Sonic let out a laugh. The unamused look on Sonia's face didn't deter the boys from continuing their running commentary and jokes. Sonic never realized how many witch and voodoo puns could be crammed into one discussion. Sonic and Manic spent most of the trip exchanging barbs while Antoine kept muttering things to Sonia. Sonic wasn't sure what he was saying; he was sticking to French which wasn't uncommon. Ever since he and Sonia had befriended one another, Antoine had been far more accustomed to using his native language. Sonia had once explained that Sonic's commentary always frustrated and annoyed Antoine, especially when he focused his energy on criticizing his English. The language barrier acted as some kind of buffer. Sonic had always found the coyote to be a little over sensitive about things. Hiding behind the French language was, in Sonic's mind, a very Antoine thing to do.

"Hey, Manic, why don't witches like to ride their brooms when they're angry?"

"Why?"

"They're afraid of flying off the handle!"

"You two should maybe be showing a little more respect?" Antoine suggested. Sonic could see that the coyote was shivering. It was unlikely the shaking could be attributed to cold weather. Sonic was sure Antoine was the only one who believed that there was any truth to voodoo. Out of everyone in Knothole, Antoine had always been the most 'spiritual' as Sally would say. Sonic, on the other hand, would simply call him superstitious.

"Ant's right," Sonia agreed. She regularly stood up for the Mercian. It wasn't an unexpected alliance; Antoine was the type of person Sonia would have been running around with even without the need for the Knothole Freedom Fighters. She stood on the steps of the cottage to glare down at her brothers. Sonic hadn't even noticed they'd reached their destination as he'd been far too focused on joking around with Manic. "We need Mademoiselle Mendou's help and I doubt she'll be all that eager to help out if you're standing around making fun of her."

With the boys' properly reprimanded, Sonia raised her arm to knock on the door, but a voice from inside interrupted her before she could finish the task. "Come in."

Sonia glanced back to the others, nervously. She slowly opened the door before stepping inside while the others followed her in. "Hello?"

The cabin wasn't as over the top as Sonic anticipated. It was obviously lived in; there was comfortable wood and velvet furniture scattered throughout the house. The walls were lined with unusual decorations and knickknacks. They could see bones and unusual items made with leather, stones and gems. It all resembled the pictures he recalled Amy Rose showing him in the past; she called the items in the photographs 'gris gris' although he wasn't sure what that meant. He didn't remember her explanation as he'd been zoning out on her at the time. Standing in the center of the room was a hedgehog close to their age, which Sonic hadn't anticipated. He assumed the 'voodoo queen' of Mercia would be a considerably older. She was a violet colored hedgehog with a purple forelock covering her right eye. She wore ordinary clothing, he noted. The red top with sweetheart neckline, tight-fitted jeans and knee-high boots didn't make her stick out as a 'voodoo queen' of any kind. Maybe she wasn't the person they were looking for. She might have been the daughter or niece of Mademoiselle Mendou.

"We're looking for-"

"Mademoiselle Mendou," Sarah interrupted Sonia. "That would be me." She spoke with an unusual accent. It was similar to Antoine's Mercian dialect, but not a precise replica. Her English seemed to be a little more solid than the coyote's as well.

"How did you know we were here?" Sonia asked.

"Did you have a premotion?" Antoine asked in earnest.

When Sarah raised an eyebrow at his question, Sonia stepped in to clear up the confusion. "He means premonition." Sonic rolled his eyes at the reveal. Antoine's question hadn't been an attempt to mock her or her abilities; it had been something Antoine genuinely believed possible for a voodoo queen. Sonic couldn't help but wonder how he'd confused the two words.

"No," Sarah said. "You're all just really loud."

"So, you celebrate Halloween all year 'round, huh?" Sonic laughed.

"Sonic, be cool, man," Manic said, jabbing an elbow into Sonic's ribs.

"What?" Sonic turned to his brother. Somewhere along the line, he'd lost his only ally since stepping into the cabin. The dreamy expression on Manic's face said it all; the voodoo queen's bewitching presence had overridden any common sense Manic had. It was about impressing the bizarre woman. Sonic was the lone voice of reason now.

"We were told you could help us, Mademoiselle Mendou," Sonia said.

"Call me Sarah," the voodoo queen said. "Mademoiselle Mendou is just something the locals decided on. What exactly is the problem?"

"A friend of ours has gone missing," Sonia said. She pulled out the photograph of before to show her. "His name was Jean-Tom Tigre. He disappeared from your town a few months ago. We were told to come talk to you about him."

"I know your friend."

"Oh thank goodness! Where can we find him?"

"He belongs to Papa Doc now."

"Okay, can someone just be straightforward with us for a change?" Sonic asked. This was getting old and it had never been cute. "Who is 'Papa Doc' and how does Jean-Tom 'belong' to him?"

"It's a little difficult to explain," Sarah said. "Your friend's body is alive, but his mind is gone."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "You mean he's gone nuts?"

"No," Sarah said. "It is a little more complicated than that."

Sarah finally began to explain herself. Jean-Tom had made a grave error upon arrival in Richelieu-sur-Mer; he had angered one of the local voodoo priests named "Papa Doc." Papa Doc was a rather disagreeable man who had an incredibly short temper which Jean-Tom had unleashed. With a mixture of powders and potions, Jean-Tom's body functions slowed to a near halt. Assumed to be dead and with no one to claim him, the mortician had buried his body.

"He was buried alive?" Sonia asked, incredulously.

"He was," Sarah said. "But the grave was shallow and his coffin weak." It had a seaside city; shallow graves were to be expected. The lack of kin explained why his coffin had been so weak. No one in the village was going to splurge on the funeral arrangements of a total stranger, especially if he had angered such an intimidating local. "It didn't take him long to crawl out of it, but he's not the person you knew. The potion Papa Doc gave him scrambled his brain."

"But there is a spell that could be saving him, oui?" Antoine asked. "Or potion?"

"I'm afraid not," Sarah said. "No one can do anything for him now. There's no cure for what Papa Doc did to him."

Sonia frowned. As the only one with any in-depth knowledge of voodoo, she knew precisely what Sarah was telling them. "Are you telling us that Papa Doc made him a zombie?"

"Wait," Sonic said. He hated to admit that the sound of that was a bit unnerving, even if he'd never say it out loud. "Zombies are a voodoo thing? Like the kind you see in movies?"

"Not the kind you're thinking of," Sarah said. "With the right mixture of powders, you can make someone appear to be dead. After they are buried, people believe that they come back from the dead when they regain consciousness and dig their way out of the grave."

She went on to explain that the powder completely destroyed the person who once existed. They would become an empty shell of their former selves. They wandered the city and terrorized locals until someone would take responsibility for them or lock them away. In Papa Doc's case, he typically came to claim his handiwork.

"So this Papa Doc guy drugged him and then collected him like some kind of prize?" Sonic asked.

"That's a succinct way of putting it, yes."

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do to bring him back?" Sonia asked.

"I'm sorry, but no," Sarah said. "Once the damage is done, there's no reversing it. There is no spell or medicine strong enough to bring someone back from complete destruction."

Sonia gave a somber nod. "Thank you for your help, Sarah," she said. "We-"

"We're not giving up just like that," Sonic interrupted. "We can't just let this Papa Doc guy get away with this!"

"Sonic, we're not giving up," Sonia said. "But we can't go rushing into anything either."

"Why are you always so determined to take forever on handling things?"

"Because you can't just jump head first into things," she said. "We have to assess the–"

"How about you assess and I'll handle it?" Sonic asked. "I'll take care of this loser in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

"I wouldn't suggest that," Sarah said. "I'm much better suited to deal with him."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic scoffed. "Why is he still running amok then?"

Sarah glared at the other hedgehog. Sonia immediately stood between the two, knowing Sonic was overstaying his welcome. "How about we all cool down before we do anything else? We can-"

"You guys can stand around and cool down," Sonic said. "I'll be back in a flash."

"Sonic, wait!"

Sonia's protest fell on deaf ears as her brother took off. Sonic's impatience was legendary. Sonia always feared that one day his it would be the death of him; it had come close to being the cause of his demise many times. It wasn't an unrealistic fear.

Sarah turned her attention to Antoine. "Votre ami est un imbécile, n'est-ce pas?"

"Oui," Antoine replied.

"I _can_ understand you, you know?" Sonia said. She paused for a few seconds. "And yes. Yes, he is."

"I understood the word 'imbecile' and I agree, too," Manic chimed in.

* * *

><p>It had taken some investigating to find Papa Doc. The first dilemma Sonic faced was finding a local that spoke English. There were very few people in town who could understand him and the old woman from before was nowhere to be found. It took far longer than he would have liked, but he eventually made his way to a flat that was located only a few blocks from the Duke's factory. The bokor had made his home in a back alley flat with lit candles in the otherwise darkened windows. 'Papa Doc' was deeply carved into the plank of wood hung just above the door.<p>

Sonic could hear the sound of running water. There was a stream of rainwater that ran from the gutter into a puddle on street below. Back alleys like this always reminded him of his half-brother. Manic had been raised on the mean streets of Robotropolis after Robotnik's rise to power. As rough as Sonic's childhood had been, he didn't feel entirely comfortable complaining to Manic about it. Manic had never had a family to lose; Jules had lost contact with his ex-wife before he could be a stable part of Manic and Sonia's lives and Aleena had given them up for reasons unknown. Sonic could recall the sound of his parents' voices and the warmth of their touch while Manic had nothing of the sort.

He was wasting too much time. Rather than continue to dwell on his sibling's plight, he brought his fist down hard on the bokor's wooden door. It rattled every time is fist made contact and the knocker flew up before coming back down with a clanging thud each time. He stood back with his arms crossed and his foot tapping against the wooden steps leading up to the door. Even with only a few seconds passing by, it had been far too long of a wait. The door slowly crept open, but no one stood behind it.

"Hello?"

"Entrez." The voice was deep and smooth. Sonic remembered flipping through one of Bunnie's romance novels in a fit of boredom; the novel described the leading man's voice as being 'like honey.' He didn't know how to imagine it at the time, but now he had a feeling he knew what the author had meant. Bunnie would have loved this guy's voice if that was the case, he assumed.

He didn't look as Sonic had anticipated. He wasn't a large, intimidating creature. Instead, he was a lithe and well-dressed white French Angora rabbit. His long locks were neatly slicked back out of his face and kept in a ponytail. His hazel eyes focused on Sonic as he gave a warm, inviting smile. He was lounging in a Gothic loveseat covered in red velvet. He seemed quite relaxed and made no effort to get to his feet. The room was covered in the same strange décor that lined Sarah's cabin, but it was far less tidy. Skulls were hung about the room with what appeared to be loving care. Around his neck was a necklace of bones that made Sonic uneasy. The death that hung around his throat contrasted the lively smile that adorned his face.

"How may I help you, hedgehog?"

Sonic crossed his arms over his chest once again. "I've been looking for a buddy of mine," he said. He wasn't about to go into the details of his real connection to Jean-Tom. "I was told you were the reason he fell off the face of the earth."

"You'll have to be more specific."

"His name was Jean-Tom Tigre. Ring any bells?"

"Tigre?" Papa Doc leaned back in his seat with a finger pressed to his chin. "Oh… that one. Nevermind about that one. He's gone."

"I don't have time to play whatever weird game it is that you're into," Sonic said. "I just want answers about what you did to him."

"Of course." Papa Doc laughed. "I'm not an unreasonable man. I'm sure that, if I were you, I would want to know, too. Jean-Tom and I crossed paths after he came into town. And I can only assume his mother never taught him how to respect others. My maman was careful to instill the importance of etiquette to me as a bébé. I have carried her lessons with me to this day."

"Can you cut to the chase?" Sonic begged.

Papa Doc paused to look him over. "You don't like to wait for things, do you, choupinet?"

Sonic sighed. This was just wasting more time. "It's not my thing, no."

Papa Doc chuckled. "Why do you always have to move so fast? Is it because you fear standing still?"

"Fear it?" Sonic laughed. "Look, pal, I just have things to do and standing around doing nothing won't help get it done. Being afraid doesn't even make sense."

"But it does," Papa Doc countered. "When you stand still, all you have is time to reflect; time to think. If you keep moving like a bird from tree to tree, you don't have to think about everything going on inside of you."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Magic Man, you're all magical and wise. I get it. That's what you're selling, but I ain't buying. I'm here for Jean-Tom."

"Jean-Tom." Papa Doc. "All he had to do was apologize and he could have gone about his business. When you run into someone, the proper protocol is to apologize for it. Not yell at the other party to 'watch where they're going.' I hope even you, in your impatience, would know that."

"You zombified him because he bumped into you?" Sonic asked, dumbfounded. "You are a real piece of work."

"I could say the same to you."

"Oh no," Sonic said. "You're the one that's the total nutbag here."

Papa Doc glared at him from his seat. Silence hung in the air for an uncomfortable minute as Papa Doc studied Sonic with an inscrutable countenance. After a few seconds longer, he chuckled. "Your spunk reminds me of someone."

"I–"

"Someone who always knew how to piss me off." Papa Doc got to his feet. "But I'm willing to give you a chance. I truly believe that some people in this world just need a lesson to see the error of their ways."

Sonic scoffed. This guy was the wackiest dude he'd come across yet and that was saying something. He was starting to wonder why anyone in this town was scared of this guy. Sonic wasn't even sure how he would be competent enough to zombify someone. Maybe it'd had all been a weird series of rumors.

"I'll give you a taste of what it's like to slow down and be forced to come face to face with your inner demons."

"What?" Sonic arched an eyebrow. Before Sonic had time to react further, Papa Doc blew powder into his face. His eyes and nose were burning; every one of his senses felt as if they were on fire. He let out a pained shout as he tried to wipe the powder away with his hands to no avail.

"When you wake," Papa Doc said. "You will know what it is truly like to be cursed."

Sonic's agony lasted a few seconds longer before he was out cold. He had no idea how long he was out. As he began to regain consciousness, he could tell he was indoors and he'd been placed in bed. He was covered by soft sheets that kept the cold air at bay. When he gained the strength to open his eyes, his vision was blurry and his eyes pained by every movement his eyelids made. Through his blurred vision he could tell that the sun was setting just outside his window. Sensitive to the light, he squinted and turned his face away from the dying sunlight. His eyes kept trying to force their way shut again and he did everything in his power to fight against it. He tried to push himself out of bed despite his impaired vision.

"Sonia! He is awake!"

Antoine's voice was unmistakable. It was a relief to hear the coyote's voice, especially when he was in such a vulnerable position. He was among people he trusted. As much as Antoine could get under his skin, Sonic did know he had nothing to fear from him. Following Antoine's call, Sonic could hear footsteps and the creaking of wooden floorboards. It wasn't just one pair of footsteps, but two. Antoine's voice had already been nearby so he assumed the newcomers were Manic and Sonia.

"Sonic, are you alright?" Sonia's question confirmed half of his assumption.

"No." He didn't have much choice but to be honest in his reply. Relief washed over him when he felt her hands placed over his own. Despite hearing her voice, the physical confirmation she was really there was welcomed. "What's going on?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she said.

"We found you face down on the ground in the middle of town," Manic said. "You were out cold. What did you get into?"

"I didn't get into anything."

"You sure about that?" Manic asked. "Because the last time someone found me in that kind of state, I'd been on a week long-"

"Not now, Manic." Sonia shot her twin a look before turning back to Sonic.

"Sonic, are your eyes alright?" Antoine asked. "Ze are looking to be very irritating."

"You mean irritated," Sonia corrected. There was no annoyance in her voice, but she was distracted by tending to Sonic's injuries. It came out as rather clipped as a result.

"My eyes are hurting really bad," Sonic said. "And I can barely see anything."

"We should call the doctor back," Sonia said. "Can you remember anything that happened? The doctor's going to need to know what he's dealing with."

Sonic shrugged her off. "I don't need a doctor. I just went to go see that Papa Doc guy and the jerk just blew this powder stuff in my face."

"What powder stuff?" Sonia asked.

Sonic went into a bit more detail at that question. He told her how he found the bokor and the confrontation that followed. He was careful to add every bit of detail he could remember. Not just for accuracy's sake, but to uphold his reputation as an expert storyteller. Tails always told him he was the best at recanting events and even though the little fox was back in Knothole, he couldn't let him down. He made sure to overdramatize Papa Doc's threat of a curse as he was sure it was the best part. From the shivering Antoine was doing, he considered himself successful.

"This is why we didn't want you running off on your own," Sonia said. "I was afraid something was going to happen to you and obviously I was right."

"Sonia, it's no big deal."

"I dunno, man," Manic said. "That doesn't sound good. Maybe we should go back to Sarah's."

Antoine nodded. "I am agreeing with Manic. She is more familiar with all this vaudou."

Sonic laughed. "Right," he said. "You just want to go back because you got a thing for her and Antoine's being a wuss as usual." He couldn't see the glare they were both throwing his way, but he could feel them. "I'll be fine as long as I get this powder out of my eyes."

Sonia helped Sonic to his feet to take him into the bathroom to wash his face. He hated being led around like a child, but without his vision there wasn't much he could do about it. He carefully washed the powder out of his eyes as Sonia filled him in on what had happened while he was passed out. When hours had passed and he was still missing, they set out to find him. When they did stumble across him, he'd been lying face down in the center of town. The locals behaved as though he wasn't even there. No one even looked in his direction out of curiosity; it was as if he was invisible. They had found a hotel room and called for a doctor. The doctor hadn't told them much. He had only confirmed that Sonic would wake up in time and that his vitals were normal. Sonia commented he'd left in a hurry after examining Sonic when Antoine had accidentally mentioned Papa Doc.

"Of course he did," Sonic said.

"Are your eyes feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." There was some irritation but Sonic could see again. No longer needing Sonia's guidance, he headed back into the room to see a hotel room that looked as though a grandmother had decorated it; the floral wallpaper looked to be decades old while the sheets on the bed were a pristine white with lace around the edges. Manic and Antoine occupied the corner of the room that had a small table to sit at. "Let's just go home."

Sonia shook her head. "Not until we're sure you're okay. We have no idea if you're fit to travel yet."

"Sonia, don't tell me you believe this curse stuff."

"It's not about being cursed," Sonia protested. "We don't know what it was you had in your eyes. It might seem alright now, but it could get worse. I'll check in with Sally to let her know what's going on."

"Sonia, they're gonna need us back home! We're just wasting time staying here."

"You won't be much help if something goes seriously wrong on the way home," Sonia said. "We're just going to stay long enough for the doctor to look you over one last time before we start heading back. We'll go first thing in the morning."

Sonic let out an annoyed groan. Everyone else was always so unbearably slow. It wouldn't have taken them that long to get home. Once they got back to Knothole, he could have gone to a doctor he actually trusted. The others seemed determined to keep him trapped in this place. Sonia ignored his frustration in favor of going about her business while telling him to quit whining.

At least they had thought to bring him dinner. As he suspected, it wasn't chili dogs. Antoine and Manic had been sent out to get food and Manic admitted to letting the coyote handle ordering dinner since French was his native language. It didn't hurt that Manic was genuinely curious about the foods Antoine had been carrying on at length about. It tasted fine, but Sonic was yearning for something familiar after his ordeal. Sonia and Antoine both carried on about how many memories it brought back for the both of them. Listening to Sonia describe her privileged childhood was the last thing Sonic was in the mood for. It was hard not to be a bit bitter when he was raised in the shelter of Knothole.

After the coup, Sonic had been forced into hiding alongside Princess Sally and many of the others. Sonia had been raised in a household away from the palace. The aristocrats that were willing to placate Robotnik's deranged whims had been allowed to remain which meant Sonia had managed to have a relatively normal childhood while living with Lady Windermere. It wasn't until Robotnik started keeping a more thorough database on the residents of Robotropolis that he found out about the genetic ties between Sonia and Sonic. In Sonia's defense, she hadn't known the two of them were related until after Robotnik began to hunt her down for it. Sonic had known about his half-siblings, but he never imagined that they'd grown up with no knowledge of him or each other. Still, it was hard to keep the resentment at bay some days.

After what seemed like forever, the others finally finished their own meals. Sonia stretched her arms before getting to her feet. "We should get to bed," she said. "We're in for a long day tomorrow."

"It's about time," Sonic said. The sooner he could get to bed, the sooner the group would be on their way back to Knothole. "I'm ready to get to bed."

Sonic shooed the others out of his room as they were still exchanging good nights. With the lights switched off, Sonic climbed into his bed. As much as it reminded him of a grandmother's house, it was comfortable. There was something about it that made him think of Rosie so he couldn't completely hate the place. As thoughts of home and the other Freedom Fighters filled his mind, he finally slipped into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>Sonic was startled awake. There had been a loud thumping sound against his door before silence fell over the room once again. He didn't know what time it was, but it was still dark outside of his window. The room was dark and it was difficult to see; he only had the light of the moon shining through the window to illuminate the room.<p>

"Hello?" As he climbed out of bed, he could feel the wood floor underneath his bare feet was cold as ice. "Is someone there?"

He received no answer. He quickly threw open the door to reveal no one was on the other side. He stepped out into the hall to look around. The long hallway was darkened and there wasn't a soul to be seen. He could see all of the doors were shut and it was likely all of the other guests were snug in their beds, resting peacefully. It must have been the wind, he reasoned. He stepped back inside to close the door. The moment the door clicked shut, he could hear ominous laughter from outside his door. The laughter devolved from something organic into something far more mechanical. With a quick jerk, he pulled the door open to reveal that, once again, there was nothing on the other side.

"What _was_ that?"

Could the hotel owner have some weird clock? There could have been a child that left their demented sounding toy out in the hallway. Some of the toys that existed for children could be outright horrifying even before Robotnik took over. He slipped his shoes back on to head out into the hallway. He had to be sure that everything was alright. With the town's allegiance with Robotnik, it could have been SWATbots or Robians. After asking so many questions about Jean-Tom around town, it was possible that a local figured something was up and contacted Robotnik to alert him. Papa Doc could have ties to Robotnik. He didn't trust that rabbit as far as he could throw him, and even with Sonic's impressive throwing arm, that wasn't going to be a far distance.

Everything was dark save for a handful of Tiffany wall lights that barely lit the way. As far as Sonic was concerned, the best thing to do would be to hurry down the end of the hallway to see if the cost was clear. His plans were immediately deflated when his legs became unbearably heavy. He stared down at his feet in confusion. He'd been walking about just fine, yet the second he attempt to run his feet felt as if they were tied to concrete anchors.

"What is going on?" Sonic tried again to run with the same result. Sonic wasn't one that was easy to scare; even when he was facing Robotnik, fear only really paid a serious visit when his friends were in danger. This, however, terrified him. He had nightmares of losing his ability to run. He made some progress when he tried a third time, but it felt as if he was moving through molasses. He racked his brain for possible answers to this. He could have been dreaming. His nerves settled when he realized that was the most logical explanation for the sudden weight in his legs.

He would try to go back to his room and wait for this to end when he finally woke up. When he turned back to face his door, it was gone; there was no trace of its existence and, in its place, was a solid wall. Hanging in the area where the door had once been was a painting. He took a step closer as his eyes widened. Within the image was the royal Acorn family. It was the last thing he expected to see in a Robo-Loyalist territory.

The lights flashed. When the power returned, Sonic jerked back. The royal family's expressions had changed from smiling faces to stern glares. They no longer looked forward, but in Sonic's direction. Sonic reminded himself that this was all a dream. It was a dream and nothing more. He took a few more steps back with his eyes glued to the painting. The cold stares were chilling him to the core. Before his very eyes the paint began to run. The Acorns melted into a mixture of running color that began to drip to the floor. Instead of bright colors, however, the paint on the floor was a bright shade of red. At first, he believed it was the paint used on the royal family's fur until he realized it was far too red; it was the color of fresh blood.

He turned away. The dream wouldn't allow him back into his room, and all that was left was to keep walking. He would eventually wake from this, he promised. The lights flickered again, revealing a dark shadow at the end of the hall. "Hey!" He called out. He started toward the figure slowly; he wondered how the others could tolerate moving at this pace on a regular basis. It was hard enough to tolerate in a dream.

"Wait!" He called out again as the figure pulled back into the shadows. By the time he reached where it had been, there was no trace of whoever it had been. "Where…?" There was no hallway for them to duck down and had they gone into one of the rooms, Sonic would have seen. He didn't like where this was going.

"Sonic?"

Sonic jumped. He knew that voice. "Dad?" He could live to be a hundred and never want to run as much as he did right that second. "Dad!" He almost had to drag his feet across the floor to get to the stairwell. Even if it was a dream, he wanted to see his father's face and hear his voice again. Having his family beside him was the one thing he wanted above everything else.

He lost his balance on the third step, grabbing onto the railing to keep from falling face first onto the floor below. He didn't spend time dwelling on the fall as he was far too focused on finding his father. "Dad!" The voice had sounded like it came from what he could only assume was the lobby. The hotel check in had been shut down and everything was dark. Like the hallway, there were only a few lights to help Sonic see. He made his way into what looked like a waiting room. It was more like a home than a hotel.

Sonic stopped dead. It wasn't a waiting room or lobby. His eyes focused on the photographs on the mantle. He could see his mother holding him in her arms while in a hospital gown. It must have been immediately after his birth. His father was in the photo beside it wearing his uniform that identified him as a soldier for the Acorn Royal Army. He'd been a member before King Acorn had decided to dismantle it.

His mind had completely recreated his home. He smiled slightly. If he couldn't have his parents in reality, he could have them in a dream. "Hey, dad?"

"Sonic."

The voice came from beside him, but it was different now. It was his father's voice, but distorted. It sounded like it was coming from a machine and not flesh and blood. He slowly turned his head to see his father. Despite his voice, he was Mobian and not roboticized. It was that warm expression that graced most of Sonic's memories; it was a sweet, loving smile that he only had when he saw his family. Sonic returned that smile.

"Dad, you don't know what a sight for sore eyes you are." He moved forward to hug the man he'd longed to be close to only for Jules to take a step back. "What's wrong?"

Jules' smile started to fade as he moved back further. Sonic could hear a strange crunching sound coming from the floor. He looked down and it wasn't hard to see the source of the noise. Metal was crawling up Jules' legs and with each inch it took over, it made disgusting crunching and clanking noises. It was the sound of organs and flesh turning robotic. Sonic knew the sound all too well.

"No, no, no," Sonic begged. This was his dream, he thought. He could change this. He had a right to be happy in his dreams. He tried to imagine his father as he used to look. He needed to combat this dark turn his dream had taken. The more he tried to think of his Mobian father, the faster the metal overtook Jules' body. It wasn't long before it reached his father's face.

There was no emotion on his face. Everything that made him the hedgehog he was had disappeared in a sea of wires and metal. His eyes were red. There was no trace of love in those eyes. The loss of love in his father's features was the ugliest thing Sonic could have imagined and that was what stood in front of him now. Jules took a step forward now that his new form had completely taken hold, forcing Sonic to retreat. Not looking where he was going, he fell back to the floor. He didn't see what he hit his arm on, but he could feel the pain shoot up his arm when it made contact.

"Ow!" Sonic pulled his arm back to see blood. The cause of his injury was left unseen, but he was far more focused on the red liquid seeping out of his arm. Pain had always caused him to wake in the past. His blood ran cold.

This wasn't a dream.

None of this was a dream. How? The weight of the situation came crashing down on him. Papa Doc's words played back in his mind and realization set in. "The curse." He looked up to see his father's form was gone and he was alone in his living room. He quickly got to his feet to find some sign of Jules or anything else.

He was cursed. This was the curse. Did it alter surroundings like this? Sonic thought curses were for bad luck. What was going on? He was at a loss and he didn't know what to do. He had to find the others. They'd help him with this. They would help him stop all of this.

"Sonic?" It wasn't his father's voice this time. Sonic turned to see Antoine standing on the stairwell.

"Antoine." Sonic's voice trembled. "Is that really you?"

Antoine blinked, perplexed by the question. He hesitated, obviously puzzling over it. He was trying to make some sense of the phrase in his mind. It was the real Antoine.  
>Sonic didn't care that they weren't the greatest of friends. He didn't care that Antoine wasn't his first choice of help. All he cared about was a familiar face was there and they were real. "We gotta get out of here!"<p>

"Quoi?"

"We gotta get the others and skedaddle," Sonic said.

"I am not understanding," Antoine admitted.

"Don't you see it?" Sonic motioned to the room.

Antoine hesitated. He looked to the room where Sonic was pointing but seemed at a loss. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"You don't see it?" Sonic looked back into the room. It still appeared to be his childhood home even if his father was gone.

"Sonic, are you being okay?"

Sonic's eyes widened as his heart dropped. "You don't…?"

Antoine watched him expectantly. Sonic shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "Just…" Antoine couldn't help him. This was cruel. No one else could even see it. It was his curse. That was why Antoine couldn't see any of it. This was meant for him and him alone.

"I think I should be getting Sonia–"

"No," Sonic protested. "I'm fine." She would just think he was nuts. There wasn't anything that any of them could do. He didn't know if anyone could. That was when he remembered one person who could help – the Voodoo Queen of Richelieu.

"Sarah," he said.

"Sarah?" Antoine repeated. "What about her?"

"I have to go," Sonic said. He turned away from Antoine, ignoring the coyote's protest. Sarah had to have something for this. There was probably a spell or a candle that washed away this sort of thing. If he was cursed with voodoo, he could be saved by voodoo. Antoine's voice was slowly fading out and sounding more distant even though Sonic could sense he was still on the staircase. It was replaced by the sound of murmuring, which Antoine didn't seem to hear.

The hair on the back of Sonic's neck stood up when the whispering became more mechanical in nature. The voice was growing more familiar, yet it was still distorted. It was soft and feminine, but he couldn't make out the words. He didn't know if it was better or worse that he couldn't understand. The whispering grew louder as whoever was doing it came closer. With all the strength he had, Sonic attempted to bolt for the door. His legs were still weighted down and every step was a struggle.

He did make it outside. The whispering only halted when he shut the door, but he knew that wasn't the end of it. It wasn't impatience that set in, but panic. His heart was pounding a mile a minute as his hands shook; his legs were unsteady as he tried to make his way toward Sarah's cabin. She was the only one who could help him now. He knew all of this was Papa Doc's doing. He was just relieved that it seemed as though Antoine hadn't followed him.

"Please." He pleaded with his legs to no avail. As if to spite him, he slipped in a patch of mud which covered half of his body. He finally pulled himself to his feet to continue onward. Unable to use his speed, the trip was unbearably long. He distrusted every shadow and every strange noise that he could hear. The laughter of robotic woman followed behind. As he neared Sarah's cabin, the twisted laughter seemed to be closer.

By the time he reached Sarah's door, he could feel someone's breath tickled his shoulder. He couldn't decipher if whatever was after him was Mobian or Robian; perhaps it was a horrid mixture of both. She was directly beside his ear with her throaty mechanical cackling. He pounded on the door to wake the voodoo queen. The last thing on Sonic's mind was decorum. He hoped she would forgive him and take pity on him once she found out why she'd be roused in the middle of the night.

"Sarah!"

Leaning against the door, he temporarily lost his balance when Sarah opened her door. "Sonic?"

"Sarah, you gotta help me!" He made his way into the cabin before slamming the door shut. "I don't know what he did to me! I don't know what he did but all sorts of freaky stuff has been happening and I–"

"Calm down, Sonic." Sarah helped him to the sofa. Sarah didn't seem concerned about the muddy state the hedgehog was in or the fact he was staining her furniture with it. "What happened?"

"That Papa Doc guy," he said. "He cursed me or something, I don't even know. I thought curses were supposed to just bring you bad luck or something!"

"Curses can do a lot of things," she said. "I'm going to need you to tell me what's going on."

"I keep seeing things," he said. "And I'm hearing all sorts of messed up stuff. I know that Papa Doc guy's behind it. It was that powder that he threw in my face! I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

"You're not losing your mind," Sarah assured him. "You said Papa Doc cursed you?"

"Yeah?"

"So then this is how the curse is manifesting," she explained.

"But no one else can see it."

"Because they're not cursed," she said. "These are your hallucinations."

"I'm just hallucinating?" he asked. "So I am going crazy?"

"Hallucinations can be the effects of a curse," she said. "Luckily, my cabin is protected. You'll be safe from the curse for at least a short while in here."

"I can't stay here forever," he commented. "Sarah, I need your help." Sonic hated this. He felt so helpless. He had to look pathetic – begging a stranger for help while unintentionally destroying her furniture. This wasn't a moment he was proud of. "Please, help me."

Sarah looked over the hedgehog. "Before I help you, do you promise to do exactly as I say?"

"If I can get rid of this curse, I'll do whatever you tell me."

She nodded. "I could get rid of the curse, or we can reverse it. You would send the curse back to him. He probably wouldn't be expecting it."

"I can send it back to him?" Sonic grinned. The idea was too appealing to pass up; he could inflict the same torture on the other man that he'd been struggling with.

"That could cause a war," she warned.

Sarah's warning was lost on Sonic. He was vehement in returning this curse to its sender. No matter how much she protested, he was adamant about going through with returning the curse to its sender. Sarah began to prepare for the ritual as Sonic watched. He tapped his fingers against his knee in silent frustration at how slow she was at gathering everything she needed. He was eager to get things going and it felt like an entity waiting for her to just get started. The items she gathered looked to be random in Sonic's eyes. Sitting in front of him was one small mirror, a black candle and a bottle of oil; he didn't know what the oil was or what its purpose could be.

Once she had everything she needed, she gave Sonic his instructions. He was hoping it was something she could do for him, especially since he assumed it would require a slow and steady hand. With a quick slice of a knife, Sonic cut off the top of the candle before turning it upside down. Sarah then told him to carve a new wick on the bottom which he didn't quite understand, but he followed her instructions.

"This is butting the candle." It was if Sarah was aware of his confusion. She'd probably had to explain this before, he realized. "It's a symbol of turning the curse around. What you need to do next is write his name backwards into the candle."

It was starting to come together in Sonic's mind. His movements were quick and his writing sloppy, but Papa Doc's name was clearly carved into the candle in its backwards glory. He was instructed to place the candle on top of the mirror.

"Now we burn it." Sarah allowed Sonic to light the candle to watch it slowly burn. His foot fidgeted as he sat in front of the mirror on the floor; he was ready for it to be finished burning before it had already started. Sarah began to anoint Sonic with the oil that she revealed was "reversing oil." Sonic still didn't understand what it was, exactly, but he didn't question it. It didn't seem like the time to start questioning her methods.

"Is that it?" Sonic was eager for it to be over.

"No," Sarah said. "Before the curse is lifted, there's one final step. One that I'm not sure you'll like." She gentle handed Sonic the candle. "You need to take this to a crossroads or bury it in the woods. Once you dispose of it, the curse will be over."

"I have to go outside?" Normally, the task would have been nothing to Sonic. He could have zipped off and had it done in the blink of an eye. Even if he had to do it slowly, it wouldn't have been a problem aside from being frustrating. Being out at night wasn't a particularly terrifying prospect to Sonic. This time, however, he knew it would be different. It wasn't the night he feared, but the hallucinations.

"You don't have to do this," Sarah said. "We can do it the other way. You won't be sending it back but–"

"No, this guy has gotta pay," he said. "You can't let people get away with this kind of stuff." Invigorated by the promise of revenge, Sonic took the candle and headed for the door. He knew she meant well, but she just didn't seem to understand why Papa Doc needed some retribution. When he stepped outside, the wind was howling and the leaves that were on the ground were swirling in its grip.

It was a relief knowing that the cabin was close to the woods. It sat in a small clearing surrounded by forest and a single path that lead into town. Anxiety swelled as he neared the forest's edge; he clutched the candle to his chest. Before he could he take another step, the world melted away. He froze as the world's colors shifted and swirled into familiar shapes. His old room slowly built itself around him – trapping him inside of a memory.

He shook his head. He couldn't let this suck him in. He continued to walk forward, reminding himself it was all a hallucination. Everything was Papa Doc's distorted reality. It didn't matter how real it felt. He kept his eyes forward without stopping. With every step he took, the more the bright colors of his childhood home faded. The walls began to crack and the paint was chipping off the walls. Dust covered the photographs and darkness overtook what was once brightly lit. He could see it crumbling around him even if he tried not to acknowledge it.

He told himself that it didn't matter what he heard or saw; he would keep moving as if it wasn't there. It became easier said than done when sobbing penetrated his senses. Against his better judgment, he turned his head toward the source. He could feel tears stinging his eyes when he saw his mother's form, hunched over and crying. Her back was to him and she had her face buried in her hands as the house decayed around her. She stood in the center of what appeared to be his parents' old bedroom. Sonic never knew why, but the sound of Bernie's sobs had always been hard to bear He tried to remind himself that it was only his mind conjuring up these horrid memories. She wasn't there.

Bernie's cries began to slowly fade and transform into something far more bloodcurdling. It was the laughter from before. It started softly before it grew louder, more frantic. She lifted her head from her hands and her shoulders shook as she cackled. Her laughter wasn't the heartfelt laugh he recalled from his childhood. It was cold and harsh. The life drained from it. All that was left was a hollow laugh that no Mobian could possess. She began to turn to face him, but he quickly turned his head. He knew that it was best if he didn't see. He kept moving forward, following the hallway that was beginning to curve and bend in unnatural ways. He didn't know what his mind was doing, but he hoped that it was his mind's way of protecting him from at least slamming into a tree. He didn't need to lose his dignity while losing his mind.

Sonic's plan to refuse to look at the hallucinations was foiled when he saw a familiar frame step into his path. The large Overlander stood only a few feet away from him, but he was hidden by shadow. He knew exactly who it was without seeing the man's face.

"Robotnik." He should have known his mind would conjure up something like this. Everything going wrong in Sonic's life could be traced back to that man. Every nightmare was haunted by the actions he had taken against Mobius, against Sonic's family. In the daylight hours, he could push aside thoughts of his family as he went toe-to-toe with the likes of Robotnik. But deep down he knew that this was the man who could ultimately take everything away from him. In his childhood, he'd robbed him of his parents and now he'd taken his uncle and numerous amounts of friends. He was a blight upon Mobius that needed to be stopped.

And there were plenty of days where Sonic wasn't so sure they could do it.

But he never had to dwell on it if he just kept moving, kept running. It was like Papa Doc said. If he never stopped, he never let the fear overtake him. He watched Robotnik's darkened form as the despot didn't move an inch. He was inhumanly still. Sonic started to move forward. He always moved forward. Robotnik remained still as Sonic advanced. As he closed in, he could see something was in Robotnik's hands.

Sonic squinted. It looked to be a Robian's head that had been detached from its body. Robians being dismantled wasn't unheard of. No one was sure what that meant for the person trapped inside the body made up of wire and gadgetry. It could have meant they could never be returned to their original state. No one knew and everyone feared the evitable testing that would come when a Deroboticizer was created. A chill traveled up his spin when it was clear who it was that Robotnik held in his hands. It was Uncle Chuck. He shook his head in disbelief. The very hedgehog who'd created the Roboticizer was just scrap metal in a mad man's hands.

"None of this is real." He closed his eyes. "It's not real."

He repeated his mantra over and over again. All of the noises around him began to dissipate the more he repeated it. When it faded altogether, he slowly began to open his eyes. There was nothing but forest around him. His childhood home was gone and he was surrounded by trees and the wind still blowing across the landscape. He smiled to himself with pride. He'd beaten the stupid curse all on his own. He didn't need to do the stupid ritual or bury the candle he still held in his hands.

"I am amazing."

"There you are!" He'd never been so happy to hear Sonia's voice. He looked behind him to see her approaching with Manic close behind. Antoine must have woken them up to tell them he'd gone. He must have remembered Sonic mentioning Sarah's name.

"Hey guys." He was back to his charming self. They didn't have to know about all the ugly business that happened before they arrived. "What's shaking?"

"We've been looking for you all over the place!" Sonia's anger didn't subside.

"Yeah," Manic added. He was just as angry as his sister. "We thought you'd taken off on us again. It seems to be something you're good at."

"I know, guys, but it's cool," he said. He wanted to defuse the situation. "I just had some stuff to take care of. Good news is we don't have to worry about Papa Doc's powder thing anymore."

"I don't really care, Sonic," Sonia said. "I'm just getting tired of having to chase after you and cleaning up every single mess you make along the way."

"Mess?"

"Yes, mess," she reiterated. "Whenever we try to plan things out or keep calm, you run off and ruin it. Every single time."

"What is wrong with you guys?" Sonic looked to both his half-siblings in hopes they'd give him answers.

Sonia huffed. "Of course. It figures you'd be too self-centered to figure it out. It's always all about you."

At his sister's harsh words, Sonic turned to his brother. "Manic, help me out here."

"Dude, nah." Manic pulled away when Sonic reached for him. "You're on your own with this. I'm tired of having to play peacekeeper whenever you piss someone off."

"Whenever I…?" Sonic furrowed his brow. "I have to play peacekeeper every time you steal from someone!"

"Don't you dare attack him!"

Sonia's defense of Manic was startling. As much as Sonia liked her brother, she'd never defended his thievery in the past. It was the one thing she and Sonic had always agreed on. Sometimes it felt like it was the only thing they agreed on.

"Are you serious? Since when are you cool with his sticky fingers?"

Sonia placed her hands on her hips. "Manic might have some problems," she conceded. "But his issues are nothing compared to yours."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Let's just get back home." Sonia sighed. "You're never going to get it."

"Are you really that mad at me?" Sonic frowned. "I know I made some dumb mistakes lately, but… you can forgive me for running off, right? We're still buddies?"

"Buddies?" Sonia laughed. "We were never buddies, Sonic."

"Not by a long shot," Manic added. "It's been tough just tolerating you, especially when you pull this crap like disappearing into the night after freaking Antoine out."

Sonic couldn't formulate the words to respond. They tolerate him? He'd known that Sonia and Manic had grown closer in a short amount of time than they did with Sonic, but they had just been tolerating him?

"Truth is," Sonia added. "We never even liked you to begin with."

It was a dagger to the heart. Sonic's heart sank into the pit of his stomach at his sister's words; the sister he longed to know. Manic nodded in agreement which was just another twist of the knife. "Sonia?" His voice trembled. He'd never heard his voice sound so weak. "Manic? I…."

Sonic trailed off and looked away. He didn't know what to do or say. What could he do? If this was how they felt, what was he supposed to do? He jumped at the sound of screaming. Looking back to his siblings, he could see them both on their knees, crying out in pain. Despite everything they had said, Sonic knelt beside his sister.

"Sonia?! Are you okay? Manic? What's wrong?"

Goose bumps rose on his arms when he heard his sister's skin begin to peel back and her bones crunch. There were so many distrusting noises being emitted by Manic and Sonia's bodies. Sonic paled as he watched metal slowly crawling up Sonia's arm as she screamed in terror, tears falling freely down her cheeks. Manic was in as much pain, but the roboticization began at his legs and worked their way up to his neck in what seemed like an instant. The process was so much worse than anything he'd seen in the Roboticizer.

When Sonic's frenzied thoughts began to settle, he came to the realization that the curse wasn't over. Despite knowing this, he stood beside his siblings, desperately wishing there was a way to stop the cruel hallucination. He was losing his brother and sister before his eyes. They had made their hatred known before his mind tormented him with how they could be torn away from him. He tried to tune out their agonized screams that became more and more inhuman.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He didn't know if Papa Doc could hear him nor did he care. The only thing worse than losing his speed was being reminded of how he could lose the remaining relatives he had left. "All I want is my siblings to be part of my life… and to love me." He'd never admitted that aloud, but it was true. He wanted to be part of Manic and Sonia's lives; he wanted them to love him as a brother. They were only a year older than he was and he'd hoped that would have been enough to build the bonds of siblinghood. They hadn't grown up together, but he'd hoped it wouldn't matter.

"I just need mom and dad to be normal again," he called out. "All I want is my family." Sonia and Manic had never met the man all of them shared DNA with. Sonic regretted the fact they'd never had the chance to meet such a kind of loving man.

All at once, he remembered his purpose in the woods. "I'll make this right," he said. He began to dig a hole for the candle. He was about to place it inside, but stopped short. Would this just start a war like Sarah said? Would his family be in danger? This could incur the wrath of Papa Doc and start a grudge that Sonic could never win, not unless he became an expert at voodoo. Even if he did, Papa Doc might start targeting Sonia and Manic. He couldn't let them come under fire. It was one of the rare times in his life where Sonic voluntarily slowed down to think.

Looking down at his siblings' twisted forms, he shook his head. "I can't do this to you," he said. "All I'm gonna end up doing is dragging everyone down with me." He had to be smarter about this. Papa Doc wasn't off the hook, not by a long shot, but this wasn't the way. Not if it could pose any sort of threat to his family. He couldn't let Papa Doc get anywhere near the only family he had left. As hard as they fought, the fear that his parents and Uncle Chuck were gone for good always swelled within him. It was constant. It made him all the most desperate to have Manic and Sonia's love, and all the more afraid that he could never earn it.

In that moment, Sonic knew what he had to do. He couldn't take this risk. If Papa Doc harmed Manic or Sonia or any of the other Freedom Fighters, it would have been devastating, especially if Sonic knew he was at fault. He set the candle aside to stare into the hole he'd dug. It was beckoning him to go through with it.

"I can't," he said. "If this is the kind of thing he can do, I can't bring this down on my family."

He filled the whole before holding tight to the candle once more. He started back to Sarah's cabin. He kept his head lowered and he was sure to ignore every strange noise or voice. He focused on thoughts of his family – the memories he held dear and the memories he planned to create with his siblings. He had a newfound confidence in his actions that drove him forward. It felt like a miracle that he was able to return back to the cabin without injury. He hurriedly knocked on the door, pushing inside once Sarah opened the door.

"You still have the candle."

Sonic was silent a moment before shaking his head. "I couldn't do it," Sonic said. "I remembered what you said. I can't let this become some kind of stupid war between me and this guy. With Robotnik and everyone else, I have to… I have to just let this guy go. If I go after him, I'm just leaving us all open for these kinds of attacks. You're the type of person who should be going after that Papa Doc guy."

Sarah smiled, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "I think I agree with you."

She carefully led Sonic back into her home and upstairs into her bathroom. As she explained the ritual, Sonic realized he'd bypassed the far less complicated option and the one that wouldn't have forced him to face his demons the way he had earlier that night. In a way, he didn't regret his actions. He would have regretted going through with it. It was the lesson he gained in his near mistake that he didn't regret. Had he not pushed aside his grudge, he could have ended up with an enemy more intrusive and detrimental than Robotnik if he could attack from afar and on such a personal level.

Sonic didn't really understand everything Sarah was doing. She explained to him things about herbs and oils, but it meant very little to him. Amy Rose would have eaten all of this up had she been there and he briefly wished she was there to hear all of this. She had placed the cleansing herbs, as she called them, in a pot of water that she boiled before bringing into the bathroom. Sonic tried to keep his impatience at bay. This was something that couldn't be rushed or botched. She ran a bath for Sonic and instructed him to climb inside. Sarah treated the ordeal the same way a nurse might. The water she had boiled before had enough time to sit so that it didn't scald his skin when she poured it over his head.

"This is washing the negativity away," Sarah explained. "Focus on cleansing the negative energy."

Sonic chuckled. "If this is how you get rid of a curse, Manic might run out and get himself cursed on purpose for this kind of attention."

"Sonic, focus."

She used the container to scoop water out of the tub to pour it over his head again. She repeated this action thirteen times before she began to utter something in French. It sounded like a prayer. The words meant nothing to Sonic so he couldn't be sure. She could have been reciting the lyrics to a Mercian pop song for all he knew. Rather than focus on her words, he focused on the negative energy flowing out of his body. He didn't know how to do this, but he tried to treat it like the games he played as a kid where they would close their eyes and pretend to be somewhere else on particularly hard nights. All he could think about was his family. Rather than focus on the curse or Sarah's voice, he could hear the sound of his mother's soothing voice calling him to dinner and his father telling one of his corny jokes to his uncle. It was bittersweet.

"Do you think you're ready to climb out?"

Sonic nodded. He climbed out of the bath. He started to reach for a towel, but Sarah scolded him; it was important for him to air dry for reasons he didn't know. The ritual wasn't over as she brought over two white candles which she anointed with a small vial of oil that smelled of hyssop and rue. When she'd been creating the concoction, Sonic's nose had wrinkled at the pungent smell. He was just relieved that he didn't have to get the scent on him. Once again, she recited the strange words from before the he didn't recognize. At his urging, she explained that it was a call to the spirits to purify his energy. It wasn't really his bag, but if it got rid of the curse, he wouldn't knock it.

After the candles had burned all the way down, Sarah recruited him to help her rid the house of the negative bath water. Sonic could feel panic bubbling up in his chest as he helped her carry the bath outside. Fortunately, it was an old fashioned bath that allowed them to easily carry it downstairs. As they carried it outside, Sarah admitted that she preferred having such a bath for this very reason.

He anticipated the same sights and sounds from early to return from before the second he stepped outside. Instead, he was greeted by the cool crisp, seaside air that the town had offered when he first arrived. He grinned. It was over. The sky was turning an orange hue as the sun began to rise. It was the most beautiful sight Sonic had seen in a long time. He had little time to just enjoy the sky when he had to help Sarah return her bath to its rightful position. When the bath tub was in its proper place, Sonic felt lighter than air. It felt as if every ounce of negative energy had been drained from his body with such a simple ritual.

"It's gone for good, right?" Sonic asked. "He could just try cursing me again, couldn't he?"

"He could," Sarah said. "But I doubt it."

It wasn't the most comforting answer, but Sonic knew it was the best he could ask for. "So, uh, thanks for everything." Sonic didn't know where to go from there. This woman he barely knew had seen him in his most vulnerable state. He had to admit it was an embarrassing situation to be a part of. "I should probably get back before my friends get worried. They'll probably wanna come back and say goodbye before we head back to home."

Sarah gave a small smile. "I wouldn't mind one last visit before you go," she said. "And I promise not to tell them how much you begged."

"I didn't beg that much."

"I ibeg/i to differ." Sarah laughed at her own joke.

Sonic brought a hand to his forehead. "Hey…" He lowered his hand. "Is there anything we should do about Papa Doc?"

"We?"

"Well… you know more about this guy than I do, right?" Sonic would never go as far as to say he was wrong, but perhaps he did need to take Sarah's words a little closer to heart. "I thought maybe you had ideas on what to do about him."

Sarah's smile faded at his words. "As much as I appreciate your newfound trust, Papa Doc is gone." She continued when she saw Sonic raise an eyebrow in her direction. "It's his… I believe the term is MO. He likes to curse and run."

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know," Sarah admitted. "He could have gone anywhere. What I can tell you is that you're lucky you escaped. He may have just wanted to teach you a lesson."

Sonic was silent a moment. "Do you think I should be on the lookout for him?"

"Maybe," Sarah admitted. "He's an unpredictable man. But if you have any more trouble, you can come to me for help."

"I can't just drop everything and come to Mercia any time I want."

"I'm not asking you to do that," Sarah said. "I'll come to you."

"And I'd be able to contact you… how?"

"I'll be in Knothole."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Sonic never imagined he'd say those words. "Did you just invite yourself to Knothole? How did you even know that's where I was from?"

"I have my ways, Sonic Hedgehog." With that, Sarah disappeared into the kitchen before Sonic could question her. It didn't take her long return with a small pin in hand. Sonic couldn't hold back the grin when he recognized the design on the pin. It was the Resistance's international red and green flag. Sonic's pin had the Acorn family crest which Sarah's lacked. "You and your friends are not the only Resistance members in this town."

Within the Resistance, Sonic had been told he was something of a household name. There was something comforting about having someone of Sarah's caliber on his side. "In that case, I can promise that when you come to Knothole, you won't be turned away."

"Good," Sarah said. "It'll make things much easier when I get there."

"You aren't just gonna come with us?"

"No," she said. "I have some other things to deal with first. Until then, you and your friends take care."

Sonic nodded. He hadn't anticipated finding another ally in all of this, but it would be a relief to have her around if Papa Doc ever did rear his ugly head again. "You take care, too," Sonic said. Without another word between them, Sonic zipped past Sarah and out the door. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do when he returned to the others.

But that would come after he lovingly embraced his siblings.

* * *

><p><strong>French Translations<strong>

Votre ami est un imbécile, n'est-ce pas? - Your friend is an imbecile, isn't he?

Entrez - Come in. This is often mistranslated as entrez-vous. The only time you'd use entrez-vous would be in a question. E.g. "Entrez-vous ou pas?" (Are you coming in or not?)

Maman - Mom

Bébé - Baby

Choupinet - No translation. It's just a cutesy word that's comparable to calling someone "sweetie", "sweetheart", "baby" or "darling." He calls everyone cute French pet names, especially if he's condescending to them.

Quoi? – What? (Informal)


End file.
